Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fans unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m/7:30 a.m. daily)

"You’re always hoping that you can bring back the guys that are free agents," he said. "It doesn’t always work out that way, but for any organization to have success, that is one of the keys.

"You’re always trying to do what’s best for the organization, sometimes what’s best for the person as well, if they’ve made a commitment to you."

The group of returning Redskins accounted for a combined 133 game appearances with 63 starts.

Young, Paulsen, Jackson, Sundberg, Rocca, Polumbus and Lichtensteiger each finished the season at the top of their respective depth charts.

"We’ve signed a lot of restricted guys, guys that have come up and stepped up," Shanahan said. "They want to be here. It’s very encouraging. Very young. I think we’ve got an excellent future in store.

"We’ve got a couple of bumps along the way here but we’ll make it through."

In addition to retaining the core unit from last year, the Redskins have also improved the team's depth in free agency, bringing in veteran offensive tackles Tony Pashos and Jeremy Trueblood to compete.

This was another pillar of Shanahan's plan entering the offseason.

"What you’re trying to do is build on depth," he told the media. "When we first came in, we were an older football team. We went to free agency in the second year and we got a few quality guys that have really helped our football team.

"The salary cap, the way the NFL is structured, you have to do a great job with the young players. If you want to build a championship-type team, you have to excel in that area."

With quality free agents still available, the Redskins have opportunity to plug holes, but will need to be creative with salary cap space.

"You’ve always got to plan everything you do. You deal with that plan, you deal with the elements," he explained. "It’s not always a perfect scenario but we’re going to deal with it.

"We’ve had some great draft choices, some excellent free agents. I like what we’ve got. As I’ve told you, we’ve got a lot of character on this football team, a lot of guys going in the same direction, so I look forward to the challenge."

Redskins Salute and GEICO Military hosted Military Appreciation Day for active, reserve, and retired military service members on Saturday, August 1, 2015, at Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center in Richmond Va.